Chapter 3The crowd was milling around her, noisy in their concern, as an old woman bent over her to sprinkle some cold water on Iris’ face. Iris touched her face gently, extracting shards of wood, expecting to find blood. Looking up, she met the furious eyes of the doll-seller, who was cursing her loudly. She felt strong hands lifting her up into a sitting position and then she stood up to see the train disappearing in the far distance, chugging on, turning a corner until its long tail merged with the inky night.
“You pay! You pay! Eighty thousand rupees! Now! You pay me!” the doll-seller was shrieking, waving irate hands over his display, looking as if he was going to punch her in the face.
Just then, another train pulled in on the other side of the platform. The crowd of passengers aro
